Greek Brandy ''Metaxa''.

If we flip through the pages of history, we can see that even the representatives of the Russian throne appreciated the famous Greek Brandy ''Metaxa''. The Greek company before the October Revolution of 1917 was the official supplier of the Russian imperial court. In the memory of this, The headquarters of the company located in Athens, still cherish the gold medal from the king of Russia. 

The history of ''Metaxa'' began more than 120 years, when the young Spyros Metaxas had the idea to create a new drink crafted from Greek grapes with base, the winemaking tradition of the ancient Greece. Regard to this, he left his family business in Halkida and settle in Piraeus, where in 1888 he built his first factory for the production of this new drink. The emblem of ''Metaxa'' was an ancient Greek coin, which was found in the excavations of the Piraeus factory, it was dedicated to the victory of the Greeks over the Persians in the naval battle of Salamina.  

Already since 1892 the drink began to be exported to the Ottoman Empire and Egypt. In the same year appeared the first advertisement of the brothers Metaxa factory in the Piraeus newspaper ''Sphere''. The drink became immediately known and concieved as an elitist expensive drink. Not by chance the king of Greece George I liked the drink and the new company became the supplier of the royal court, and later the imperial courts of Serbia, Germany, Bulgaria and other central European countries, as well as the distant Ethiopia. At the same time ''Metaxa'' was delivered to Russia, to the court of Alexander the III. Later, the factories were built in Constantinople, Cairo and Odessa, where the first company Spyros Metaxas appeared in 1890. A great demand for ''Metaxa'' was especially the United States, where the drink of Greece was known as the ''Flying Brandy''.

In 1990 after the death of Spyros Metaxas, all the rights of the ownership passed to his sons who have strengthened the growth and popularity of the company. After Second World War, due to the requirements of manufacturers of spirits from the French region of Cognac, the other manufactures of drinks was forbidden to use this word in the tittles of drinks. However ''Metaxa'' is not a cognac, and not a brandy.

The secret of success was a good recipe, stored in secrecy, despite the simplicity of the process: three Greek varieties of grapes (savvatiano, Moors/black/sultanina from Corinth and Crete) in conjunction with a mature wine from Samos and Limnos islands, aging in French oak barrels for three years. The French oak gives the wine alcohol a beautiful golden colour and a typical velvetly taste. But most importantly its natural flavours of the herbal mixtures that include rose petals, and distilled water, giving ''Metaxa'' the unique/ gentle and simultaneously astringent taste.

''Metaxa'' is included in the prestigious list of the 100 most popular spirits of the world, becoming kind of a symbol of Greece, which is considered the legacy of Dionysus in a glass amphora. The drink ''Metaxa'' called Greek Silk, due to a velvety taste and a play on words: ''Metaxa'' is translated from Greek and means ''Silk''. 

 

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